Zoho, any good?

February 7, 2007 5:54 AM

Do you have feelings about the Zoho suite of web apps?

My older brother, who thinks I know more about this internet thing than he does, just emailed me asking if I I know much about the Zoho suite of web applications, because he's trying to figure out how/whether to use 'em. I've heard of them, but never really touched them. I'd like to give him a more cogent answer than that, though. Could any of you with direct experience give a few reviews?

posted by Karmakaze to technology (4 comments total)

What does he want to use Zoho for? Business? Light home office work? Personal stuff?

Because he can get Desktop software for free, and I'd imagine Zoho would only be truly useful if you were mobile and without your own computer. That said, I've not touched Zoho, only futzed around with Google's similar offerings.
posted by Happy Dave at 6:14 AM on February 7, 2007

Tried Zoho and Writely (which is now Google Docs). Writely was waaaay easier to use and I've stuck with it.
posted by Brittanie at 6:18 AM on February 7, 2007

I'm beta testing the Zoho Office Suite. It's nice, and seems to have thought out the integration of different aspects well. However it can be slow at times. If you are really mobile, as a previous comment mentions, it might be a good tool though.
posted by rryan at 6:27 AM on February 7, 2007

I've made light use of the Zoho word processing and spreadsheet apps, and like them OK, but--seconding rryan--they do seem to run more slowly than the Google comparables (Google Docs and Spreadsheets). I also feel a little more secure that Google isn't going to go belly-up and vanish overnight, taking my stuff with it. (Of course, *anything* created and saved through on-line applications like these must be regularly backed up, not that I remember to do this as often as I should.) The Zoho Planner is a nice alternative to Backpack, but again, runs slowly and I have a little more confidence in Backpack's long-term stability.
posted by Kat Allison at 9:23 AM on February 7, 2007